Sasha and Am­ber’s tips for best-prac­tice hair

Sasha Lenski is Bet­tje­mans’ cre­ative di­rec­tor and Am­ber Evans is the sa­lon man­ager. To­gether they are the spark that drives ex­tra­or­di­nary hair per­for­mances in the fash­ion world, in­clud­ing New Zealand Fash­ion Week. We asked them for an­swers to some of the peski­est hair ques­tions.

My hair is coloured, but also has other chal­lenges. How do I choose the right shampoo? Ev­ery year new tech­nolo­gies are op­ti­mis­ing the sim­ple task of sham­poo­ing. Once shampoo just cleansed the hair and scalp, but now you can find multi-task­ing prod­ucts. For ex­am­ple, Pure­ol­ogy Per­fect 4 Plat­inum Shampoo cleanses, has a UV pro­tec­tion to re­duce fad­ing, and a blue foam to keep blondes cool and bright. An­other ex­am­ple is Pure­ol­ogy’s Hy­drate Cleans­ing Con­di­tion, which is 70% conditioner and 30% shampoo. At last a re­li­able qual­ity shampoo and conditioner in one – great for the gym bag.

I’m fail­ing Blow-dry­ing 101. What am I do­ing wrong? A good hair dryer, like the Par­lux 385, is es­sen­tial. It’s light, pow­er­ful and will last for years. The right brush is also crit­i­cal for the op­ti­mum re­sult. At Bet­tje­mans we’re very fond of the Ter­mix round brush – per­fect for vol­ume and a smooth shiny wave.

Is it OK to wash my hair ev­ery day? Wash your hair as of­ten as you want. Most peo­ple wash their hair ev­ery day or ev­ery other day. Some peo­ple once ev­ery five or six days. It’s im­por­tant to use the best shampoo and conditioner avail­able to you. The ‘Rolls Royce’ of shampoo and conditioner is the Keras­tase range. We rec­om­mend Chro­nol­o­giste by Keras­tase for weight­less mois­ture and op­ti­mum scalp and hair re­gen­er­a­tion.

At some point, should I go grey? Grey hair has an age stigma at­tached to it. There is no doubt that even peo­ple who suit grey hair, like Judy Dench and He­len Mir­ren, would look much younger with their hair clev­erly coloured. Na­ture should not be ig­nored, how­ever, so as we age, we must lighten the hair at least around the face. Hair tinted too dark is just as age­ing as grey hair. Here are some hints to avoid ‘Nana’ hair. • Ex­ag­ger­ate your look – wear a short, sharp mod­ern cut and push the

fash­ion bound­ary. • Grey hair can eas­ily look dull and life­less, so get your dryer out and use prod­ucts to make the hair shine. Lóreal’s Sil­ver Shampoo by Serie Ex­pert neu­tralises any gold in the hair and makes it shine. • Ac­ces­sorise with makeup and jew­ellery al­ways. • Talk to your hair­dresser about soft colour op­tions that only re­quire a min­i­mum of main­te­nance. We have huge suc­cess with ‘foxing’, where we lighten just the ends so that grey looks a funky blonde. • Hair length is not an is­sue, as long as it’s well coloured and beau­ti­fully groomed. Pulling hair straight off the face can be age­ing. Only a per­fectly oval, well made-up face can get away with it.